Cueva el Soplao

Its always a good recommendation when a bunch of cavers recommend a show cave, but everyone who had been had said how impressive Cueva el Soplao is, so we decided to go on a rest day during our Cantabria trip. As it's Spain, which completely shuts down over lunch time, we had plenty of time for a walk around the area to see the beautiful scenery. We had a glorious day, despite a rainy forecast.

Cueva el Soplao was discovered by miners in around 1908, who were mining for blende and galena. Its amazing to think the cave was preserved, it must have been stunning for them. There is also a section of mine the public can go in occasionally. We had a lovely walk along the easy tracks, then a rummage around off the beaten track to see if we could find any evidence of mining. There was a few old mine buildings, very different in style to what I'm used to seeing in the UK.

Mining building

There wasn't much left of the inside of the building, but because there were isolators and wire mountings, we wondered if it used to be a communications hut or a signing in room.

Inside the building

Tall building, tiny doorway

We found a very well blocked off entrance to a mine, and an accessible one, but alas, we had forgotten our wellies and it got very claggy very quickly, but we explored what we could without getting filthy. The perils of having a hire car.

We went from old remnants of mining history, to some modern sculpture. Some excellent and a compliment to the miners, some a bit, well, different. 

After a very pleasant few hours, it was time to go catch our train into the cave. Normally this would seem a bit cheesy, but it was well done. You could imagine a miners plateway running into the hillside, carrying trugs of galena, then emerging into a stunning chamber. The cave is wheelchair accessible and has very easy walking pathways, but it was surprisingly in it's lack of fencing and how well done the lighting was. The formations were still so pristine.

We had to keep up with the guide, and lights were turned off behind us, so taking photos in the cave had to be done quickly. I've included a few here to show how beautiful the place is, pretty much taken on the run. If you ever go to Cantabria region, Cueva el Saplao is well worth a visit. Cueva el Soplao